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DOLCI MIEI SOSPIRI Tra Ferrara E Venezia Fall 2016

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DOLCI MIEI SOSPIRI Tra Ferrara E Venezia Fall 2016 DOLCI MIEI SOSPIRI Tra Ferrara e Venezia Fall 2016 Monday, 17 October 6.00pm Italian Madrigals of the Late Cinquecento Performers: Concerto di Margherita Francesca Benetti, voce e tiorba Tanja Vogrin, voce e arpa Giovanna Baviera, voce e viola da gamba Rui Staehelin, voce e liuto Ricardo Leitão Pedro, voce e chitarra Dolci miei sospiri tra Ferrara e Venezia Concerto di Margherita Francesca Benetti, voce e tiorba Tanja Vogrin, voce e arpa Giovanna Baviera, voce e viola da gamba Rui Staehelin, voce e liuto Ricardo Leitão Pedro, voce e chitarra We express our gratitude to Pedro Memelsdorff (VIT'04, ESMUC Barcelona, Fondazione Giorgio Cini Venice, Utrecht University) for his assistance in planning this concert. Program Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger (1580-1651), Toccata seconda arpeggiata da: Libro primo d'intavolatura di chitarone, Venezia: Antonio Pfender, 1604 Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643), Voi partite mio sole da: Primo libro d'arie musicali, Firenze: Landini, 1630 Claudio Monteverdi Ecco mormorar l'onde da: Il secondo libro de' madrigali a cinque voci, Venezia: Gardane, 1590 Concerto di Margherita Giovanni de Macque (1550-1614), Seconde Stravaganze, ca. 1610. Francesca Benetti, voce e tiorba Tanja Vogrin, voce e arpa Luzzasco Luzzaschi (ca. 1545-1607), Aura soave; Stral pungente d'amore; T'amo mia vita Giovanna Baviera, voce e viola da gamba da: Madrigali per cantare et sonare a uno, e due e tre soprani, Roma: Verovio, 1601 Rui Staehelin, voce e liuto Ricardo Leitão Pedro, voce e chitarra Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1463), T'amo mia vita da: Il quinto libro de' madrigali a cinque voci, Venezia: Amadino, 1605 Luzzasco Luzzaschi Canzon decima a 4 da: AAVV, Canzoni per sonare con ogni sorte di stromenti, Venezia: Raveri, 1608 We express our gratitude to Pedro Memelsdorff Giaches de Wert (1535-1596), O Primavera gioventù dell'anno (VIT'04, ESMUC Barcelona, Fondazione Giorgio Cini Venice, Utrecht University) da: L'undecimo libro de' madrigali a cinque voci, Venezia: Gardano, 1595 for his assistance in planning this concert. Ludovico Agostini (1534-1590), O villanella da: Canzoni alla napolitana a cinque voci, Venezia: Gardano, 1574 Giovanni Gabrieli (1557-1612), Canzon prima a cinque da: Canzoni et sonate, Venezia: Gardano, 1615 Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger S'io sospiro da: Libro primo di villanelle a 1, 2 e 3 voci, Roma: snt, 1610 Claudio Monteverdi Dolci miei sospiri da: Scherzi musicali a tre voci, Venezia: Amadino, 1607 Giovanna Baviera Diminutions on Giaches de Wert’s Cara la vita mia Giaches de Wert Cara la vita mia da: Il primo libro de' madrigali a cinque voci, Venezia: Scoto, 1558 Dolci miei sospiri tra Ferrara e Venezia L'ensemble Concerto di Margherita si propone di far rivivere la particolare atmosfera musicale alla corte estense di Ferrara a cavallo tra il XVI e il XVII secolo il cui protagonista indiscusso, il Concerto delle dame ferraresi, era vera fonte d’ispirazione per la scrittura di nuove musiche e scoperta di una vocalità nuova. Questo Concerto oppure – come scrive Luzzaschi nella sua prefazione ai Madrigali per cantare et sonare a uno, due e tre soprani – il Concerto delle dame principalissime – era un complesso costituito da tre cantanti assunte a corte come dame di compagnia della duchessa Margherita Gonzaga, terza e ultima moglie del Duca ferrarese. Varie testimonianze rimandano all’identificazione delle tre dame con Laura Peperara, Anna Guarini e Livia d’Arco. Laura Peperara, cantante e virtuosa arpista mantovana storicamente definita «secondo honor de la Città di Manto dopo Virgilio», fu attiva alla corte ferrarese già dal 1568. Anna Guarini, figlia del poeta Guarini, cantante e liutista, la raggiuse solo alcuni anni più tardi. E di Livia d’Arco, cantante e suonatrice di viola da gamba, scrisse il poeta bolognese Cesare Rinaldi: «Se canti Livia o suoni / se tendi l’arco, o scocchi / Apollo hai nelle labbra, Amor negli occhi (...)». Le tre dame erano spesso affiancate anche da figure maschili: Ippolito Fiorino, ferrarese, maestro di cappella e compositore, il quale intervenne nel Concerto cantando e suonando il lauto grosso, e Giulio Cesare Brancaccio, napoletano, la cui voce di basso fu lodata sia dal Guarini che dal Tasso, che gli aveva dedicato una collana di ben sei madrigali da eseguirsi in forma di dialogo insieme alle Dame. L'età non più giovanile del Duca, unita alla rassegnata constatazione di non poter assicurare al ducato un erede diretto, contribuì a quel processo di interiorizzazione che doveva fare della musica a corte l'oggetto primario degli interessi di Alfonso II. Ed è così che Cara la vita mia, madrigale a cinque del fiammingo Giaches de Wert, fa dafil rouge che affiora ripetutamente nel corso del concerto, quasi a simboleggiare, da un lato, la pienezza e la magnificenza dell’ultima corte estense a Ferrara e, dall'altro, la caducità che l’avrebbe finalmente sconfitta. Il programma include anche diversi componimenti dedicati al Concerto da Luzzasco Luzzaschi, organista del serenissimo Signor Duca di Ferrara e direttore della musica da camera di Corte già dal 1571. Sono suoi i madrigali T'amo mia vita, Stral pungente d’amore e Aura soave. Un'altra versione del testo di T'amo mia vita, contenuta nel Quinto Libro di madrigali di Monteverdi, lascia il soprano ad una declamazione solitaria cui le altre voci rispondono e sostengono dal basso, quasi il compositore avesse cercato di contrapporre una dimensione aulica ad una piú terrena. Ad implorare simbolicamente il desiderio di slancio verso una nuova vita è certamente il testo poetico di Giovanni Battista Guarini, musicato da Giaches de Wert, O Primavera: la stagione di tutte le nascite viene infatti invocata come una «bella madre dei fiori», ma il lamento «tu torni ben, ma teco non tornano i sereni...» richiama ancora l'amarezza dell’annunciata fine della corte. Alla malinconia del Guarini, in fine, si contrappone con forza l'immagine del sole che sorge descritto dal Tasso – a Ferrara tra il 1565 e il 1575 – nel madrigale Ecco mormorar l'onde – spesso considerato uno dei primi grandi capolavori monteverdiani. Con Voi Partite mio sole si è voluto includere un’opera di Girolamo Frescobaldi, ferrarese di nascita e allievo in quegli anni di Luzzaschi. In essa si sviluppa un crescendo di tre strofe attorno al tema della brevità delle vicende terrene: «Come fu l'alba, ohimè, vidi la sera». I dolci canti e pianti del poeta Chiabrera sono insistenti ed invocati con energia ritmica nelle sei sestine dei Dolci miei sospiri di Monteverdi, mentre in S'io sospiro di Kapsberger (dalle Villanelle del 1610) il languore del martirio amoroso è pianto dalle due voci femminili, il cui cuore potrà essere consolato e salvato solo dalla bellezza dell'amato: «vostra beltà che lo' mantien' in vita». Dolci miei sospiri tra Ferrara e Venezia With this concert, the ensemble Concerto di Margherita revives the musical atmosphere found at the Este Court of Ferrara between the 16th and 17th centuries. The undisputed protagonist of this atmosphere, the Concerto delle dame ferraresi, was a source of inspiration for new music and the discovery of a new vocality. The Concerto or – as Luzzaschi wrote in his preface to Madrigali...per cantare, et sonare, a uno, e doi, e tre soprani – the Concerto delle dame principalissime – was a group comprising three singers employed at court as ladies- in-waiting to the Duchess Margherita Gonzaga, third and last wife of the Duke of Ferrara. Various sources have identified these three ladies as Laura Peperara, Anna Guarini, and Livia d'Arco. Laura Peperara, the Mantovan singer and virtuoso harpist was active at the Court of Ferrara from 1568 onwards. Anna Guarini, daughter of the poet Guarini, was a singer and lutenist who joined Laura a few years later. Of Livia d'Arco, singer and viola player, the Bolognese poet Cesare Rinaldi wrote: “Se canti Livia o suoni / se tendi l’arco, o scocchi / Apollo hai nelle labbra, Amor negli occhi (...)”. The three Dame were frequently accompanied by male figures: The Ferrarese choirmaster and composer Ippolito Fiorino, who sang the lauto grosso in the Concerto, and the Neapolitan Giulio Cesare Brancaccio, whose bass voice was praised both by Guarini and Tasso. Tasso dedicated a series of six madrigals to Brancaccio, to be performed in dialogue form with the Dame. The Duke’s advancing age, together with his resignation to his inability to produce a direct heir for the Duchy, contributed to the introspection that propelled music to the center of Alfonso II's interests. In fact, Cara la mia vita, a five-voice madrigal by the Flemish composer Giaches de Wert, acts as a fil rouge that surfaces repeatedly throughout the Concerto, almost as if to symbolize the fullness and the magnificence of the last Este Court in Ferrara on the one hand and, on the other, the transience that would finally defeat it. The program also includes several poems dedicated to the Concerto by Luzzasco Luzzaschi, organist of the serenissimo Signor Duca di Ferrara and Court Chamber Music Director since 1571. The madrigals T'amo mia vita, Stral pungente d’amore, and Aura soave are all his. Another version of the text of T'amo mia vita, found in Monteverdi’s Quinto Libro di madrigali, leaves the soprano to a solitary declamation which other voices answer and support from below, almost as if the composer had tried to oppose a sublime dimension with a more earthly one. The poetic text by Giovanni Battista Guarini O Primavera, with music by Giaches de Wert, symbolically implores the desire for momentum toward a new life: the season of all births is in fact invoked as a "bella madre dei fiori", but the lament "tu torni ben, ma teco non tornano i sereni..." once again invokes the bitterness of the anticipated end of the Court.
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